Retracing My Steps, Part 2

DISCLAIMER:  I am NOT a medical doctor.   From time to time, I might offer insight into exercises for good "chop health" as it pertains to the instrument, but nothing I say in this blog should be considered a substitute for a proper medical diagnosis!!!

In my last post, I shared the story of a automobile accident several years ago that threatened my playing future.  In Part Two, I want to discuss how I worked through the challenges and came out on the other side better informed and stronger than I ever was before the accident.  

DISCLAIMER:  I am NOT a medical doctor.   From time to time, I might offer insight into exercises for good "chop health" as it pertains to the instrument, but nothing I say in this blog should be considered a substitute for a proper medical diagnosis!!!

In my last post, I shared the story of a automobile accident several years ago that threatened my playing future.  In Part Two, I want to discuss how I worked through the challenges and came out on the other side better informed and stronger than I ever was before the accident.  

Step One: Awareness  

Despite the best efforts of several teachers, I never really "bought in" to the notion of a daily routine before my accident.  Conceptually, I knew that a routine was beneficial on multiple levels.  It built in consistency, and strengthened a player's confidence in their abilities.  In my own playing, I relied heavily...too heavily, on my natural abilities.  Each time I achieved a new milestone in my playing, I justified my approach a bit more.  Years later, I realized that the longer I avoided incorporating a routine, the slower I progressed.  It took a complete chop breakdown to face the need for change!

Step Two: Experimentation

When I first sat down to play, it was not pretty.  Each day for the first couple of weeks, my chops lasted about five minutes before breaking down.  My range was limited to an octave, and the notes I could play were shaky at best.  Over time, I was able to gain a minute here and a minute there, and with each bit I gained, I felt momentum building up.  

As my single notes became strings of three or four notes, I began searching for simple tunes that stayed within the span of a fifth or sixth.  Examples of these would be songs found in beginner books, like Hot Cross Buns.  After a week or two of these simple songs, on both the mouthpiece and the instrument, I felt like it was time to start working on....you guessed it....my own routine.  There were twists and turns along the way, but I did my best to persevere.  A daily routine is a highly personal matter, and what works for me may not work for you.  In my opinion, I would consider the following sections to be part of a comprehensive daily routine:

• long tones
• flow studies/beautiful sounds
• fast and slow lip slurs
• range connections
• articulation
• scales/arpeggios

For years, I played my long tones at the beginning because they were at the beginning of every warmup I had ever played!  After the accident, I found that playing long tones first tired me out, making my routine less effective overall.  By moving it later into my rotation, I was more limber, with the control to play my long tones with more consistency.  Adding hairpins (crescendo/diminuendo) to long tones had never been possible before this change, but including dynamics added another layer to my routine.  While I would never suggest abandoning the standard sections of a routine, shaking up the order of those sections can breathe new life into the "rut" that some might experience by doing the same routine each day.

Step Three: Implementation

I truly believe that the doing of a routine is more important than which routine is chosen.  When I am playing well, it is because I am covering all of the skills needed to play well, each day.  While I don't play every note of every exercise each day, I make sure to cover each facet of playing every day.  Whether it is the published Remington Warmup exercises, a warmup downloaded from a website of a major symphony player or college professor, or a routine that your private teacher has given you, make sure that it is thorough and well paced.   If you are disciplined in doing your routine and certain parts of your playing lag behind the others, the weaker part deserves more attention each day, even if that means augmenting the printed exercises to suit your needs.

Click here for my post on recommended warmups.

In the third and final part of this blog post, I will wrap things up with a few thoughts that have sustained me through the tough times since coming back from my injuries.  Look for it soon!